54 'OLD q' 



of carriage and vivacity of mind. Though married 

 to a Scottish noble, she did not conceal her antipathy 

 to the manners and customs of the Duke's native 

 land. One social fault troubled this singular creature 

 immensely — the scarcely polite custom of eating off" 

 the end of a knife which many of her guests, who 

 ought to have known better, practised when dining at 

 Drumlanrig Castle. If the Duchess observed any 

 guest eating his food in this fashion, she would 

 scream out and beseech him ' not to cut his throat.' 

 But such a warning was only prefatory to a lesson in 

 gentle manners, as the Duchess would call a footman 

 and bid him carry a fork or spoon on a salver to the 

 offender, already bountifully supplied with fork and 

 spoon laid for his use, in order to call his attention 

 to the fact that those articles had been placed for 

 use, not for ornament. 



This strange woman also affected singularity in 

 attire, always dressing as a peasant-girl when so- 

 journing in the ' Land of Cakes.' This garb she wore 

 to show her scorn of the grand costumes and the 

 hauteur of certain Scottish ladies whose position 

 entitled them to visit. A trick she played a more 

 than usually bedizened party shows that there was 

 a deal of method in her grace's alleged madness. 

 The Duchess proposed a walk, she, of course, dressed 



